I was just reading an excerpt from Michelle Au's book. And I have to tell you, it is SPOT ON. Except I don't remember the residents being that angry with me (except on Ob/Gyn). And now we have Pandora and MP3 players in the OR, not CDs.
Anyhow, it reminded of this time on my neurosurgery rotation when one of the 2nd year residents* was putting a foley in a patient. The patient was a young attractive woman, which is NOT what you want to be thinking about when you're putting in the foley.
Anyhow, we all watched as the resident repeatedly tried to catheterize this poor woman's clitoris. Oh, and then he got it in.... into her VAGINA. All of this to the intense amusement of his senior resident, the scrub nurse, and the circulator. And me too, though I wasn't about to say anything.
"Been a while, Jimmy?" they cackled.
"Gosh, maybe they really ARE working you guys too hard!"
"Good thing you're a brain doctor and not a gynecologist."
On his fourth try, he finally got it in with some additional guidance from the females in the room and a fair share of heckling.
Thank goodness the patient was already intubated and unconscious.
*I'd have been putting in the foley myself, but earlier in the year they had banned medical students from putting foleys in patients. It was part of the new infection control protocols. We were now barely allowed in the room while a central line was being placed, and we weren't allowed to do foleys either.
20 Pearls of Wisdom:
i share your smirk, but it is amazing how women will also struggle with female foleys. ...did the patient emerge with a strange fascination for the pg-2?
True. But it was pretty funny anyway.
Putting Foleys in fat women was practically the only thing I was good at in med school. I even got an impressed look once.
I read the excerpt from Michelle's book too. I think she's really funny, especially for a female. I feel some combination of admiration and jealousy toward her. I'd probably like her a little better if she had responded to any of the 3-4 emails I sent her over the years telling her she's wonderful. (I'm sure she gets tons, so I understand, but still, I feel a tad rejected.)
The part I changed about this story was when I swooped in and did the foley, first try. But I didn't want the infection control police to come after me. So, I too excel at the female foley. Or did at one time.
Fizzy, you are awesome too. You have a different style than Michelle, which I think is equally funny. Just different. I like that you've avoided making your blog all about your daughter too, which she hasn't been able to do.
I have to admit that I got all giddy when she responded to a comment I left on her blog once.
One thing I think is funny -- we both could have practically been her classmates at Hunter. It's an incredibly small world.....
Thanks for saying I'm awesome :) I've only avoided talking about my daughter on my blog, cuz I contribute to another one where that's all I wrote about ;)
You know I didn't go to Hunter though, right? I want to the other Manhattan school... the nerdy math one :)
Her life has just mirrored mine in weird ways, what with growing up in the same city, similar high schools, both quit our first primary care residencies for specialty residencies, both had babies at the same points in our training. Except I feel like she kind of did everything a little better, somehow.
I know.
It's not a contest. You're doing so well! Just think about that.
Eh, I'm sort of mildly jealous of pretty much everyone :)
Yes I know thats why I dont even vist that blog anymore becuase its become a mommy and me blog and Im not a mommy so nooooo thank you
Errmm, ladies? I think you're both wonderful, so I won't tell you that I actually got a mention-by-name in Michelle's blog. No reply to my e-mail, though. -(
Your two blogs are among those I check every day before the others. So there!
I'm a retired NP and I sucked at difficult Foleys. No, wait. Should I rephrase that?
WV = restess, which I should be able to make an appropriate joke about but nothing comes to me. Sigh.
I definitely have a love/jealous/hate/love for her but really enjoyed the excerpt from the book (and laughed at how bang on it was). She is a great writer, no doubt about it.
I get daily inspiration to keep writing from people like you (OMDG), Michelle Au, Fizzy (both blogs), Head Nurse (who has just recently written about her recent cancer dx amazingly well) Grump, Edwin...
It's all a process and though it may never amount to much it is a helluva good trip down memory lane when I want one.
Oh and weird! I have never never never had a med student ask/want to put in a foley. Maybe it is just such a nursing duty where I've worked in the past that they don't bother getting the med-heads to do it!
(Would have been nice though! One less thing to do...)
Lurkette -- OMG you didn't! So jealous!!
Thanks for the kind words about my blog!
ABB+Fizzy -- I have to admit I'm a bit jealous of Michelle too. Maybe this is a girl problem? Anyhow, I check both your blogs more frequently than her's now, for what it's worth. ABB -- you need to update more often. ;-) Who's Edwin?
OMDG--Hahah, was that a joke because I've been updating almost every day this week?? Can you tell I am slipping into "studying for finals/faffing" mode? =)
Edwin Leap (he's on my sidebar) is a Christian ER blogger from the US. I know people might be turned off by the "Christian" part of that descriptor--but I actually find his writing really interesting and thought provoking. Last year he did a series of posts that were 'reflections for health care workers' in theme. It was looking at things like why we judge patients, get angry at patients, frustrated with our abilities, etc. I found them very insightful...
Plus sometimes it is a nice change to read blogs about patient care that are not just reflecting the degree of burnout/job hatred that some seem to become...(not excluding myself from that category completely, of course).
P.S I think it is fairly rad that someone checks my blog more often than M.A's ! hahahah Thanks! =)
Yeah, who's Edwin?
Michelle has the great ability to make any story funny... she's a tremendous writer. Yet, I don't get excited when her blog updates the way I do when your (OMDG) blog or Grumpy's blog updates. I guess like everyone says, she mostly writes about her kids, which doesn't interest me all that much, even though I'm a mom.
(Weirdly enough, I even look forward your stories about the dog park, despite the fact that I'm not a dog person and have no interest in dogs.)
ABB -- True enough, you've had a lot of updates this week. I was getting frustrated by your lack of posting a few weeks back though. I completely understand about the increase in posting during finals. As you know. I'll have to check out Edwin's blog.
Fizzy -- Aw, I'm touched! I look forward to your posts on both your blogs. Also the comments. You've been very controversial lately. It's been awesome.
I think it's hilarious and fun how much my recent MiM posts have been pissing some people off. Lately, I've been called judgmental, self-indulgent, and entitled. I wonder what the word of the day will be for the my next (totally innocent) post.
Oh please Fizzy, they're not totally innocent posts -- which is what I like about them. You have this way of pressing people's buttons just so that really gets under their skins. I think it's funny to watch people get so worked up over it.
I mean, you're entitled to your opinion for goodness sakes. You should be able to say something irritates you and that you find it morally wrong without the whole world coming down on you about what a brat you are.
One of the things that has annoyed me most about med school is that even the most innocuous comment (for instance: I am so annoyed/ overwhelmed by this class I don't like) can draw out this response from your classmates about how wrong you are, and how you shouldn't complain so much, and that you are a brat who is obviously going to fail in life. It's funny to see that carried over to blog world too.
There used to be some med school community where I used to post a lot when I was an intern about how much my life sucked, and every time these premeds would jump on me about how if I was unhappy, "maybe medicine isn't for you." Because obviously they planned to love every aspect of medical training. It was irritating but also really fun to battle it out with them. Premeds are so predictable.
Honestly, I hate posts where people talk about how wonderful their lives are and how much they love their jobs and how great they are. I could write posts like that, but I'd hate myself. I prefer blogs that are more honest and self-deprecating. Every time I hear someone say the words "I love my job," I throw up a little in my mouth.
I should make a post about that. I bet people would go nuts.
Fizzy---don't forget "anti-woman", I think someone called you that as well a few weeks back! hahahah =) I was actually *really* surprised how much those posts rankled people!
I suppose it must be tapping into the very sensitive place that professional women try and bury or get hassled for having: the urge to procreate or not.
OMDG: (sorry to use your comments section to harass Fizzy) I am really going to try and be more consistant with posting, I suppose I just worry that my ridiculously boring life will scare people away if I write too many posts. =)
I also enjoy the dog park drama!
Oh yeah, how did I forget anti-woman?? What does that mean anyway? I was never entirely sure.
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